Mind Games
by magicbulletgirl
Summary: Playing mind games with someone isn't nice, especially when it's just an excuse because you can't admit your feelings. Kaito and Aoko.


_Oh, I promise, yes, I promise you_

_I'll never, never hurt you again._

_Yes, I make a solemn promise_

_Oh yeah, I'll never hurt you again…_

**lll**

Mind Games

**lll**

It was raining in June. Oh how lovely the rain could have been right now she thought. Really, it had been hot all week and she had been asking for it. But no, her prayers had been answered all wrong. Each drop that fell on her back added to that sticky gooey feeling that'd been following her all day.

She could do without it very much thank you.

Add to the sticky feeling, the icky feeling of not doing well on the pop quizzes in class throughout the day, well you get the idea. She didn't have the energy to do anything.

And Kaito wasn't helping one bit. He'd been trying to make her move all day with his relentless amount of energy.

Seriously, she wondered where he got it all from. He put away no more food than she did most of the time and he knew it. After all, during lunch that day he had gone and said so everyone could hear, "Geez, Aoko, that's your second bag of chips. You're gonna get fat."

Mind you, he was having a second bag as well and she didn't hesitate to point it out.

"Yeah, but you're not an _acrobatic magician_! You don't have the metabolism to make it null." Kaito replied and Keiko, who was sitting beside Aoko was of no help, she merely nodded along with him.

However, with the sticky heat in the air, Aoko didn't feel like arguing much longer. She wasn't dumb; she knew the game well. He'd bait her until she got up and chased him around some, which was likely to happen if she responded the way he wanted her to i.e. "Well, I chase a certain idiot magician around enough so I probably _do_ have a high metabolism!"

Instead, Aoko remained silent and simply rolled up what was left of her bag of chips and walked away.

The game was seriously too old now.

Back and forth. Yes, each day it was over something new, and even he had managed to surprise her now and then with his ingenuity on what to rile her up with. But, really now, they weren't kids anymore.

_Change._

_Change would be nice, just as the seasons change._

_If only he'd grow up and realize…_

_Wait, realize what?_

Aoko looked around to make sure no one was looking at her and sighed in relief.

Okay, she could admit it to herself that the idea of being something more with Kaito wasn't an idea that came with the same yuck factor as when she was seven. There was no way in hell she was going to tell him, though.

The rain was pouring down heavier now.

_Ah, I better get home quick…_

She stopped in her tracks as she passed by a street vendor. He was selling plastic umbrellas of all shapes, sizes, colors and designs. And one in particular caught her attention.

"Ah, mister, how much is that umbrella," she asked pointing at it.

"Oh, that one is 5 dollars."

"I'll take it."

She took out her money, paid the man and went on her merry way, keeping the umbrella shut the whole time.

_I hope it rains again tomorrow._

**lllll**

_It's raining again._

Kaito shifted around in his seat trying to find a more comfortable position. Partly, he hated the rain. He attributed it to his inner thief. He knew how bad rain was for his colleagues of the less than legal profession. Rain meant footprints going in and out of a building. Rain meant a soggy white suit. Rain meant low visibility when trying to get away on a hang glider.

It just wasn't fair.

Well, at least he hadn't planned a heist for today. One rainy day was enough. He hadn't enjoyed coming home soaked from head to toe. Only a quick warm shower had prevented him from catching a cold.

Still, Kaito thought catching a cold would be unlikely. God looked out for fools and thieves alike and if he caught one it meant that he had stopped being one of the two.

In his head, Kaito like to joke that the biggest thing he was being a fool about was Aoko.

In his foolishness, he likened her figure to that of a boy's every other week, made no effort to stop calling her dumb or even to stop insulting her father.

But even Kaito, what with his _amazing_ eyesight, could not be blind to the beauty Aoko held. That fiery (but always cute) attitude heightened it, especially after a comment or two from him.

But he did have to admit. It was really childish.

He was a man after all and that had to come with some amount of dignity and courage. Sure, somehow he had had enough to take on his father's mantle but that had been sort of reckless really.

He did it without giving it a second thought.

But he could second guess all day on Aoko. On his feelings no, but he could come up with some thousand doubts about their situation. Some days he would wake up telling himself that today was the day. Today he would tell Aoko he loved her and would like to go out with her as a couple instead of just friends as they did all the time.

But then she would smile at him at some point of the day and then he'd know.

_That smile would go away if I said it. If I told her the truth._

So he would stay quiet and go on with the day.

He put his feet up on his desk.

It was pathetic really. He had the energy to run from one hundred plus officers any day of the week, but to tell Aoko something so simple as "I like you," and he turned to mush.

_Yep, right at that first sign of trouble._

He sat up as Aoko came in to the class room. She was slightly damp and carrying the now closed and sheathed umbrella.

"You don't look like you used that umbrella getting here."

"Ever heard of wind? It slants the rain."

"No excuses. You should have worn a rain poncho."

Aoko glared, "You made fun of me once for having one."

"No I didn't. I only pointed out that it did nothing, like all your other clothes, to accent certain anatomical features that you don't and will never have."

Aoko gave him a puzzled expression. "But that doesn't make any- whatever." She slammed the umbrella down on her desk.

Kaito tried not to look too wide-eyed at her and tried to take another route, "Do I offend?"

Aoko looked away, almost disgusted.

"Don't you grow up?"

Kaito was actually taken aback but before he could respond the teacher came in and called the class to order. Keiko and Akako, who sat nearby gazed at Aoko in wonder. What had come over the usually even tempered girl to make her like this?

Even Hakuba was wondering what stupid thing Kaito had done to make Aoko respond in such a manner.

It was a universal truth that if Aoko wasn't all right it was usually one of two things bothering her; her father or Kaito. And nine out of ten times it was Kaito.

**lllll**

_Well, it can't get much worse._

That was true enough. Kaito was at a loss for words. He thought that Aoko liked them going back and forth at it. It was the way they interacted, wasn't it? After the lovely way they met when they were children, most would have thought their personalities would change. That had not been the case but it had been how they had gotten to know each other.

So, Kaito wondered what had gone wrong.

_1… I implied she had a manly figure._

_2… I tried to joke at the wrong time perhaps?_

_3… What was number 3?_

Kaito cleared his thoughts. Clearly, this wasn't going to work.

He'd just have to talk with Aoko. Maybe he could get it out of her.

He usually could.

**lllll**

He wasn't going to get it out of her. No way in hell.

Aoko sat in her seat with her arms crossed keeping her attention on the board to avoid looking over at Kaito, who she could tell was looking at her.

She just had a feeling that he was.

The bell rang for lunch.

Aoko grabbed her umbrella and made a dash for it.

_Escape, escape, escape…_

_Wait, why am I running?_

_Never mind that, he's coming._

"Aoko, wait up."

Kaito managed to grab onto Aoko's arm just as she got to the end of the hall, where there were the stairs that led to the roof.

"Geez, Aoko. What'd I do to make you so mad at me?"

Aoko pulled out of his grip and ran up the stairs.

"It's nothing!" She yelled over her shoulder.

"Then – haa – why are you being so DIFFICULT?"

Kaito got to the landing to see Aoko slam the door that led out to the roof behind her. He pushed it open. Aoko was leaning beside the doorway, trying to stay out of the rain.

"_Difficult?!_ You're the one without a clue."

"What? What do you mean?" Kaito shut the door.

"Never mind."

Aoko turned way, heading to the other side of the roof to reach the other exit, when Kaito grabbed her hand.

"Aoko, what don't I get?"

Kaito looked at her apprehensively as she stayed silent, looking down at her shoes, getting wet with every moment passing by.

"Aoko?"

"I GET IT! I'm not the prettiest girl at school! I'm skinny with no curves or anything! But you DON'T have to point it out EVERY-SINGLE-DAY!! And YOU CERTAINLY don't have to say that I'm gonna get FAT just because I'm eating a second bag of chips!! And you might think it's all a game but they're still words and they're not nice! You might think it's all fun and games but sometimes it's not fair. As it is, you look up my skirt all the time too! You're the one having all the fun! You just leave me feeling stupid or something when you're supposed to be my friend! Why don't you just GET IT!? Sometimes it's okay but other times it's NOT!"

…_Geez…_

Kaito looked at Aoko with wide-eyes, "Were you holding all that in?"

Aoko was looking down at her shoes, her face partially hidden. He distinctly heard a sniffle, "Yes…"

Aoko looked up suddenly as she felt him get closer to her and then wrap his arms around her.

_---Clatter---_

"Ah, Kaito…?"

She turned her head to the side but she could really only see his ear and the side of his head.

_What's he doing? He's… hugging me…_

There were few instances in her mind when she could remember being hugged by Kaito. Not even after their date when she proved he wasn't the Kaitou Kid did he do something like this.

And too quickly it was over.

Kaito looked at her and pushed her chin up so she would look at him.

Her face was flushed and wet, her eyes teary… but she was prettier than he had ever seen her.

_I love her don't I…?_

"You okay?"

She nodded, "Ah, yeah… just surprised."

"I… I always thought you liked it. You didn't mind the playing and the teasing. But if you really don't, I can lay off a bit. You're really not manly looking, like I keep saying. I can just keep the teasing to checking what color underwear you're wearing."

His grin at the end immediately annoyed her in that "oh you're _so_ funny" kind of way.

"Well, I already have safeguards against that so you'll eventually stop."

Kaito had a feeling he knew exactly what she was talking about. But he kept looking at her, smiling, unsure of what to do next.

Sometimes pointing out the obvious helped.

"We're getting all wet and you dropped your umbrella."

He bent down to pick it up and he began to unsheathe it.

"Ah, wait Kaito!"

Too late he opened it and looked up.

His eyes popped wider than she had ever seen them.

"FISH!!!! WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND BUYS A FISH UMBRELLA?!?!?!?!"

The umbrella was transparent with tropical fish swimming all over it.

Aoko took it out of his hands.

"It looks like they're swimming," she said smiling, "Now don't fall over or you'll be wet all day."

"I won't… but I think I prefer getting wet than knowing there are fish 'swimming' above me."

"Fine, I don't need to tease you to get a laugh."

She shut the umbrella and looked at Kaito.

"What?" she asked after he had kept staring at her for several moments.

Her cheeks were extra flushed now.

_I'm a moron…_

"Nothing, nothing. Come on. I'm hungry, let's get something to eat."

"Okay."

He held the door open and watched her enter.

_Maybe tomorrow I'll tell her…_

"Hey Aoko… if it's sunny tomorrow… and since it's Saturday…"

And the sky kept raining on…

-The End-

**lllll**

AN: So, long time no fic for me right? This kinda came to because, really, I have had some fic ideas just not enough time to write them. And then I forget what they were (sweatdrop). So I hope you liked it, and if you did please review.


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